Thoughts on the craft of family history and genealogy, and random reflections on some of the things that flash like stars across Memory’s mirror. Oh, yeah...books and archives, too!

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Back in Time For Hallowe'en! Boooo!

Mnemosyne’s Magic Mirror has been clouded over for the past several weeks, since my attention has been directed to:

(a.) revising and updating my presentation called “Squeezing More Facts from Census Records”. The presentation was part of the joint NY Genealogical and Biographical Society – New York Public Library’s Family History lecture series and took place at the New York Public Library last Tuesday night (October 26th).

It appears that a good time was had by all who attended, and the folks went away with some useful suggestions about the often-overlooked information that can be found in the federal censuses from 1790 to 1930. There are more events scheduled (including a day-long event with John Colletta next Saturday), so it’ll worth your while to check the schedule at the New York Family History School’s website.

(b.) revising and updating the PowerPoint slides for my presentation on “Deconstructing City Directories” next Saturday (November 6th) at the Massachusetts Society of Genealogists annual conference in Marlborough, MA at the Marriott Courtyard. This is the organization’s 35th anniversary and promises to be an extra-special event. You can learn more here.

In addition to presenting the “city directory” talk, I’ll also be at the three “Jonathan Sheppard Books” tables, each laden with the “goodies” that genealogists need for their research. (If you’re in the greater Worcester area, plan on attending!)

(c.) and last … but certainly not least, I’ve been making final revisions to a major genealogical article that will appear “shortly” in a major peer-reviewed genealogical publication. More info when it’s actually published.

So, in the spirit of Hallowe’en – the day when adults get to dress up and act like 8 year olds again – I thought I’d share a family picture (above right).

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words, so I trust it will make up for the words I haven’t written recently.

This is a picture my father in costume, and was taken not on Hallowe’en, but rather sometime close to Charter Day in Albany NY in July, 1936. Albany's Charter Day (July 22) commemorates the city of Albany’s first charter, granted by colonial governor Thomas Dongan, Earl of Limerick, in 1686. On this particular July day in 1936 (the 250th anniversary of the Charter), the city held a celebratory parade. My father – dressed as a Dutch burgher – rode on the Beverwyck Beer company float, since he was a supervisor there.

The identity of the young lady with the beer stein by his side (also likely an employee of Beverwyck) is unknown (but was not my mother, who is much prettier).

The picture of the entire Beverwyck Beer float is below. My father and his female drinking companion are on the far left. And, considering that it was actually a brewery that sponsored the float, those kegs on the right might well have been more than props: